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New Hampshire is one of the best states in the country for children, according to the most recent Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count report.

It is second only to Massachusetts when it comes to how well children thrive. The Kids Count data book looks at economic health, education, health, and family and community data. The data show the Northeast is one of the best regions in the country overall for kids.

“A child’s chances of thriving depend not only on individual, family and community characteristics but also on the state in which they are born and raised,” the report states. “States vary considerably in their wealth and other resources. Policy choices and investments by state officials and lawmakers also strongly influence children’s chances for success.”

Gov. Chris Sununu said the report shows New Hampshire is on the right track when it comes to making sure children thrive. The state has made key investments to help support communities and families, he said.

“Here in New Hampshire, our investments in mental health and public education have delivered results for children and families across the 603 – earning the Granite State the #2 spot for family and community and #2 for overall child well-being,” Sununu said. “With top rankings in economic well-being, best education, and best health too, these rankings all make one thing clear: New Hampshire is the best state for in the country for families.”

The Kids Count report shows New Hampshire is second for overall child well-being; second for family and community; second for health, up from third in 2021; fourth for economic well-being, up from sixth in 2021; and fourth for education, up from fifth in 2021.

Sununu said New Hampshire continues to earn recognition for the high quality of life in the Granite State. Recent studies have placed New Hampshire first for Overall Freedom; first for Public Safety and Corrections; first for Economic Freedom; the fastest growing economy in the nation; the fastest growing state in the Northeast; the lowest poverty rate in the country; and a top emerging housing market.

There are still serious problems facing New Hampshire’s children, however. The COVID-19 pandemic is leading to a mental health crisis, especially for kids, as the families and communities try to emerge from the disruptive pandemic measures.

“Schools went virtual. So did many jobs, while others vanished, and the economy convulsed. We isolated ourselves and our families. The health care system buckled even as doctors, nurses, researchers, and others strove tirelessly to save lives. By July 2022, over 1 million people in America had died from the novel coronavirus, including more than 1,600 children. Over 200,000 kids in the United States lost a parent or primary caregiver during that same period. In short, the coronavirus upended everyday life to an extent not seen since World War II,” the report states.

Reports of anxiety and depression are up 27.8 percent among Granite State children, above the national increase of 25.5 percent, according to the report. Much of the increase is seen as a reaction to two years of pandemic life.

“COVID-19 took hold in the United States in March 2020. It shuttered schools and childcare facilities; canceled youth sports and activities; and shut down libraries and recreational centers. It also cut off access to the places where children hang out informally: malls, movie theaters, and even outdoor playgrounds. Suddenly, most kids’ only connection with their peers was through the screens on their mobile devices, if they had them,” the report states.

“From lost playtime for younger children to canceled proms, graduations, and summer jobs for teens, the world simply stopped being what it had been for millions of young people. Teens reported spikes in symptoms of anxiety or depression as they weathered uncertainty, fear, and concerns for the health and safety of themselves, their families, and their friends.”

Cassandra Sanchez, New Hampshire’s Child Advocate, said the state is in a mental health crisis. Families across the state are struggling to get the help they need. Because of a shortage of counselors and therapists in New Hampshire, families are waiting months to be able to get help, she said.

“We are just in a very tough time where the openings in the workforce for those services are not completely filled,” Sanchez said. “We have high needs, and not enough people to deliver the services for those needs.”

Sanchez said efforts are being made to attract and hire more workers, including raising wages to bring people from out of state.

“We need competitive pay to attract people,” she said.

A new report ranks New Hampshire as the best state to raise children based on economic well-being, health care, and education, among other factors. The Granite State has consistently been ranked one of the top states for families to have kids in other studies. Because of the high ranking, some state officials are cheering the statistic, but others are cautious that the state shouldn’t be complicit when tackling children’s issues.

The report released last week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that health care was the biggest difference between the highest- and lowest-ranking states. Based on data from the Population Reference Bureau, the report ranked New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont as the best states overall, and Mississippi, New Mexico, and Louisiana at the bottom of the list.

Image Credit: Annie E. Casey Foundation 2017 Kids Count Data Book

A map in the report highlights clear regional trends, with the South accounting for 15 of the 20 lowest-ranking states. Only Virginia was ranked in the top half of the states. Also, other than Rhode Island, every New England state was ranked within the top 20. Those regional categories continued when broken down by each category, including economic well-being, education, health, and family and community.

Another study, released at the end of May, from Save the Children, ranked New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New Jersey as the top three states “where childhood is least threatened.” New Mexico, Mississippi, and Louisiana rounded out the bottom of the list.

Those results are in close agreement to personal finance website WalletHub’s 2017’s Best & Worst States to Raise A Family released in January. That study named North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Vermont as the best states to raise a family, and once again, the same three states were at the bottom: New Mexico, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Why is the Northeast doing so well and the Southern states aren’t? If you break down the categories individually, you’ll see varying state dynamics and different policy priorities.

According to the Annie E. Casey report, 2015 childhood poverty rates were lowest in New Hampshire at 11 percent, while Mississippi’s was the highest at 31 percent. Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Vermont all tied for the lowest rate of teens not in school and or working, which was 4 percent. Louisiana’s rate was the highest at 11 percent.

When it comes to education, the report also found that while 50 percent of Massachusetts fourth-graders in public schools are unable to read proficiently, New Mexico’s rate is a staggering 77 percent. For context, the national average is 65 percent.

Some New Hampshire officials applauded that the state was ranked number one in the study, including Lorna Colquhoun, communications director for N.H. Division of Economic Development.

#NH is the No. 1 state to raise a child thanks to #economic stability, #education resources and community support – https://t.co/O32tkaIgZo pic.twitter.com/3FiPrB2A52

— Lorna Colquhoun (@mzwrite) June 16, 2017

While appreciative for the recognition, Taylor Caswell — executive director of the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority — said not all families in the state are receiving the same benefits.

“[It] certainly makes us look great compared to some other states, but I would say my own experience is that the types of benefits it claims are not consistently seen across our small state,” he told NH Journal. “In my work I see a whole lot of room for improvement in areas of the state that don’t always show on the radar of broad national-scale rankings … and so when rankings like these come out it often can provide room for people to take their foot off the accelerator or move to some other issue or initiative, often at the expense of the families in those areas.”

Caswell took to Twitter to make his concerns known. The New Hampshire Democratic Party was quick to say that Caswell and Colquhoun’s tweets shows infighting within Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration.

Infighting on team Sununu. This is who he tapped to bring businesses to NH, instead he bashes our #1 rating & turns folks away #nhpolitics https://t.co/HOP9njYXWU

— NH Democratic Party (@NHDems) June 17, 2017

Caswell said some areas the state needs to continue work on is early childhood education, access to job training, healthcare access, broadband coverage, and workforce housing.

“Accessing those things is not a consistent experience across the state and I consider those things to be among the most important in providing broad access to the state’s economy for all residents,” he said. “Maybe I’m just not easily satisfied.”

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One of the big agenda items that passed the House on Thursday was a bill with an amendment that would appropriate $33 million in the current fiscal year to address a projected shortfall at the state Department of Health and Human Services. That was just the amendment, though. Lawmakers tacked it on to a bill that would give preference to grandparents to be the guardian of a child in certain cases, like when a parent has a substance abuse disorder.

The House overwhelmingly voted to concur with the Senate on House Bill 629. It passed on a 283-32 vote. It now heads to Gov. Chris Sununu for his likely signature.

Most of the fanfare over the passage was because of the emergency DHHS funds. Yet, thousands of Granite State grandparents are victims of the drug crisis after they have been called on to raise their grandchildren.

“I am pleased that the House today overwhelming approved HB 629. With this legislation New Hampshire is leading the way in giving grandparents a voice when it comes to the guardianship process in cases dealing with substance abuse,” said bill sponsor Rep. Mariellen MacKay, R-Nashua. “This important legislation will keep children out of the foster care system and allow them to stay with their families. HB 629 is about love, passion, family, and just doing the right thing, and I couldn’t be more proud to see this bill overwhelmingly pass the legislature.”

HB 629 places the burden of proof on the petitioner to demonstrate that grandparent guardianship is in the best interest of the child in situations that were brought on due to a parent’s substance abuse. It establishes a preference for grandparents to be appointed as guardians and makes benefit eligibility information available on the DHHS website, as well as to grandparents seeking guardianship over their grandchild.

New Hampshire social service agencies estimate that 10,000 grandparents are now full-time guardians of young children, mostly because of the drug epidemic. Nationwide, there were 2.882 million kids being cared for by their grandparents, which was up from 2.871 million in 2011, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

“A lot of these grandparents are on fixed income, and they’re taking on a responsibility, and for a lot of them, it’s a hard financial responsibility,” said Keith Kuenning, director of Advocacy for Child and Family Services.

Applying for guardianship can involve many steps, and navigating state programs for food stamps and Medicare only adds to the confusion in what can be an overwhelming process for many people.

A Pew Charitable Trusts report released in November found that 21 percent of grandparents caring for grandchildren in the United States are living below the poverty line. In addition, about 39 percent are over the age of 60 and 26 percent have a disability.

Gail Snow, an administrator with the state’s Bureaus of Child Protection and Juvenile Justice Services within the Division of Children, Youth and Families, said the division removes kids from their parents in some abuse and neglect cases, which are often linked to substance abuse issues, but not always.

“We only remove children when it would not be safe for them to remain in their home,” she said. “As a division, when we remove a child…we look toward relatives to provide care, and grandparents are often the people who step up.”

The problem with the current law is that it calls for immediate protection for the child, but also requires that courts and child welfare agencies protect the sanctity of the home. That’s why Chris Wade, who is a grandparent raising his grandchild, is supportive of HB 629.

“[I]t allows us to not have to be put through the ringer to protect our grandchildren,” he told the Associated Press. “It means we can go to the judge and, if the parents want that child back after we have gone through guardianship, then it’s up to that parent to be able to prove that they are worthy of having their child back. ”

The bill also has the backing of New Futures, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the opioid crisis and its effects on children. They support it because “it provides support for children in crisis and families suffering from the opioid epidemic, encouraging healthy early childhood development.”

While this is a first step in understanding the relationship of grandparents, parents, and children who are impacted by the opioid epidemic, the New Hampshire Legislature is also looking to establish a study commission to really get the full picture.

Senate Bill 148 would establish a commission to study “grandfamilies ” in the state and would gather families, legislators, and advocacy groups to review what data exists for them, what challenges exist, and what solutions can be carried out at the policy level.

“When this happens, grandparents face specific challenges such as getting children into schools, securing the appropriate legal status as a guardian, and providing the child all they need to thrive,” said bill sponsor Sen. Martha Hennessey, D-Hanover, in February before the Senate approved the measure.

“[It] can also place a financial burden on the grandparents who are often on a fixed income,” she added, “This commission would ensure there are resources in place to help these families and to make sure the children have the care they require to thrive.”

SB 148 also passed the House earlier this month and now waits for Sununu’s signature.

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